Lightning arced through the steel covered sky, providing the only light now that the sun could no longer penetrate through the thick storm clouds. Yet this illumination lasted less than a heartbeat and was soundly followed by deep rumbling thunder. As there was no electricity, the men in the main house could only rely on a few candles and a battery powered torch to provide some meagre light. Had the sun descended and set already, they would have simply retired to their beds.The lightning and resultant thunder broke through the dark, silent sky once more, causing all but one of the men lazily sitting about the living room, to frown. Seeing as the storm was fast gathering pace while approaching them, the wall building had become completely abandoned, while Dexter could only speed up his bath, rather than soak in the water heated by Ren Zexian for his use (after wiping away most of the impurities with a damp cloth. Once gathered and lounging upon the plush sofas and thick rugs, Paul dug out a few bags of snacks seeing as it wasn"t safe to attempt to cook without light on the gas camp stove. In addition, there was a bowl of sugar snap peas compliments of Nathan"s most recent harvest.
"It"s a bit eerie," Patrick said, nervously. "Like the sun was extinguished."
"I was thinking that this would make a great opening scene of a horror movie," Harry mentioned aloud as he grabbed a few peas. "You know, a storm, much like this one with forked lightning breaking across the sky. And there"s a mansion, about this size, but older and a bit run down. Maybe there"s a group of men..."
"Make it women," Tyler announced, crunching on a couple of pretzels.
"Whatever," Harry dismissed this suggestion as if it wasn"t that important. "So they"re taking shelter from the storm because their car broke down. They"d been travelling for a while and had no idea that the world had ended while they were on the road. They gathered in a reception room, much like this one, but there are dust sheets covering the furnishings and cobwebs filling up almost every corner. But they"re not bothered about it, just glad to be wrapped up in a few old blankets and out of the rain.
"When all of a sudden, they hear a creaking noise, ending their laughter. They whisper to each other; wasn"t this place abandoned? There were no lights in any of the windows, but could someone have actually been at home here? One shouts out in greeting, but there"s not response, so they reckon that it was a trick of the wind."
The cadence of his voice was almost mesmerising and once he paused to sip from a tumbler of water, the hesitation caused Patrick to breath of a question; "And then what?"
"And then they hear a small scratching upon the door outside and an almost inaudible groan. They all glance out of the gla.s.s door, but it"s too dark to see anything. So one of them grabs the battery torch that had been placed at the centre of them, with a shaky hand and aims it towards the window. Only to reveal the rotting flesh of a rabid, hungry zombie."
Tyler snorted loudly. "We"re living in an actual zombie apocalypse, it puts a dampener on horror stories don"t you think?"
Just as these words slipped from his lips, a shriek outside caught their attention and had them all staring at the patio doors, eyes wide and hearts racing. Well, almost all of them. Ren Zexian rose to his feet without change of expression and made his way towards the doors.
"What are you doing?" Whispered Patrick, who"d been listening to Harry"s tale with rapt attention, so much so that Dexter had stolen several tortilla chips from his bowl without him noticing, too lazy to get up to refill his own.
Paul gulped to moisten his suddenly dry throat and lifted the torch, aiming it at the patio doors, where two white figures stood and a hound darker than the pit of Tartarus breathed upon the gla.s.s. The taller figure reaching for the handle of the door.
"Nooooooo!" Patrick yelled out and hide behind Dexter as the larger man formed a tight ball of lightening upon his palm.
Harry started laughing loudly, huge belly chuckles that caused him to double over in hysterics. The others glared at him horrified as Ren Zexian opened the door and let the two figures and dog enter the room. Signs of relief escaped the men, followed by coughs of embarra.s.sment, blaming their reactions on the atmosphere. That was right, it was the fault of the eerie atmosphere that was all.
Ren Zexian ignored the laughter and silliness happening behind him, his eyes firmly upon the boy as he entered, the latter wide eyed and filled with anxiety. He"d kept a small distance between himself and the boy, for there was something about the youth that stirred feelings he had considered long since dormant within him. For instance, when those large beautiful eyes stared openly at him, until he met them with his own which caused them to flicker away or fall downcast. Or when Nathan spoke softly, lovingly towards the plants in his garden. Or more recently when he witnessed the fragile and tentative relationship blossoming between Lucy and Nathan.
If only Nathan would continue to look at him. If only Nathan would speak to him in that way. If only he was the one developing a relationship with the boy.
He was ten thousand years old, he did not believe in love at first sight, but that did not mean that he was unaware that there were people out there who could stir his interest within a moments meeting. Who could stand close by and have his body or soul react to them. Yet he would never label Nathan this simply. It was far more complex an array of emotions that stirred within him, no longer just a protective instinct and increasing each and every time his five senses happened to note the boy was close by. Even now, his arms ached to rise from where they hung casually at his side, to wrap around the boy and gather him close to his chest, to feel him warmth, to offer him comfort for his pains.
Before he could react on impulse, the lightning once more lit the sky, this time tearing through the cloud cover to split the air and crash somewhere just beyond the village boundaries. Nathan sank to his knees and clutched his ears, the thunder loud, deafening even those without his sensitive hearing.
"Christ!" Dexter cried out and hurried to close the patio doors even as Lucy buried herself against the dog, whimpering and Ren Zexian hovered, his composure a tiny bit out of sorts, over Nathan. Just as the doors closed did the heavens open with a heavy downpour and Ren Zexian felt the poison core within him stir.
"The taint is in the water," he whispered, partially to himself, but Dexter heard and understood his meaning well enough.
"Yeah," the man sighed, heavily. "We figured as much. Its why we put up with Tyler and all of his nonsense. There was only so much bottled water floating about."
"a.r.s.ehole," Tyler crossed his arms about his chest, but his anger melted as Lucy crept closer to him. He offered to hug her, comfort her through the storm, but soon discovered, as her belly rumbled, that actually she just wanted his pretzels. He shared with her without complaint.
Ren Zexian was lost in his own thoughts, wondering over the corrupted Yin he could feel within the rainfall. It was not heavy, but acc.u.mulated within a body, surely it would build up to cause sickness. One would either rise stronger or fall into the state of the walking dead from drinking the water the sky produced. The thunder punctuated his gloomy conclusion, but hands suddenly grasped his loose robes and quickened his heart, causing the gloom to vanish as smoke.
Glancing down, he saw two beautiful eyes staring at him, filled with a hope of fulfilment. But what it was that Nathan wanted of him, the boy would never freely tell. So he dropped to his knees before the boy, still keeping his hands from reaching out lest he frighten Nathan away. "What is it?" He asked in a calmer voice than he felt, aware of the heat of the boy"s body, finding a little contentment in their closeness to the point that his core seemed to settle. Or perhaps, he just forgot about the discomfort, his attention completely captured by Nathan.
"I don"t like the thunder," Nathan whispered in response.
"I see," Ren Zexian replied. "I can"t stop the storm, however."
"That would be impossible," Nathan said in agreement.
Ren Zexian glanced over the boy clinging to him with clasped fists, as well as quickly noticing that Paul had begun moving candles out of reach of tiny fingers, while Patrick coaxed her into trying the uncooked peas. The child no longer seemed to notice the storm, finding comfort in filling her small belly and Aslan at her back. He returned his attention to Nathan who winced visibly when the thunder crashed loudly overhead. "Do you wish for me to stay with you and help you through the storm?"
"Yes," Nathan replied and his pink lips curved into a small, but satisfied smile, which stole Ren Zexian"s breath away. He dare not start breathing as Nathan inched closer to him, seeming to find as much comfort in their nearness as did the older man.
"It"s uncomfortable here," Ren Zexian told him, worrying that the boy might be cold beside the gla.s.s door. A touch of coa.r.s.eness marred his usually clear tone of voice. "Let"s sit over there, we"ll be away from the window as well."
"Alright," Nathan agreed, remaining close until Ren Zexian settled upon the floor in lotus position. Dexter nudged Harry as the boy curled close to the older man, the pair producing a picture of harmony despite the continued chaos of the storm outside.